Presentation Foundations

The major challenge facing presenters

When you stand up to speak in front of a group you want to be seen as confident and credible. You want your audience to be interested and engaged. You want to come across with authority and provide value to your audience.

Just about every presenter agrees that there is one key to achieving these goals…

Preparation.

The Presentation Foundations course is designed to ensure that both you, and your presentation, are totally prepared.

You will have thought about your audience and prepared material that is of value to them

Your presentation will have a logical structure and be easy to follow

Your presentation will have a variety of engaging and interesting content

and, as a result, you will feel far more confident and deliver your presentation with more credibility. And your audience will be more interested and engaged and will see you, and your presentation, of value.

How does this training work?

You come to the course with an audience and topic in mind. Then over the day you design a presentation and practice delivering it to other course members. You do not have to deliver your presentation to the whole group. You will not be videoed. You will not be critiqued by the group.

You will, however, get lots of attention and advice aimed exactly at you and your needs.

You’ll be regularly trying out the concepts that you learn and applying them to the presentation you create. At the end on the course you’ll have:

a well structured plan of a five-minute presentation with a clear key message

the plan for a slide-deck to accompany that presentation

ideas on how to improve the delivery of your presentation

a 100 page manual including in-depth instructions for using the SpeakerMap™

ongoing free advice if you contact us

countless new ideas for improving the effectiveness of your future presentations

new confidence and enthusiasm for creating and delivering presentations.

Course Content

1. Turn your knowledge into engaging presentation content

Many presenters find it hard to distill their wide-ranging knowledge into focused presentation content. Bored, confused and overloaded audiences are the result.

By using the Effective Speaking SpeakerMap™ you’ll quickly identify the key message of your presentation and then structure your material in a way that will keep your audience attentive and engaged.
You’ll learn:

an easy step-by-step design process that even experienced presenters find a revelation

how to stop spinning your wheels and get your presentation planned in less time than you thought possible

how to come across as an expert without overloading your audience with detail

the secrets to engaging your audience that anyone can master.

As you apply your learning to your presentation project you’ll get ideas, advice and coaching from your trainer and feedback from your course colleagues.

2. How to use PowerPoint to stimulate your audience

Are you an expert at death-by-bullet-point? Maybe you hate it – but it’s the only method you’ve been exposed to? And perhaps you avoid PowerPoint because it’s caused you pain in the past.

PowerPoint is an excellent tool when properly used. It can be used to create handouts, speaker notes and slides to help the audience understand your message. Unfortunately most people have no idea how to make the most of it and seem more like projectionists than presenters.

Find out:

why the traditional way of using PowerPoint is the worst possible way of conveying information

how poor PowerPoint is probably undermining your expertise and credibility

how to stop designing slides that you have to read to your audience

an elegant format that will have you creating stimulating slides in minutes

how to (secretly) use PowerPoint as your notes without covering your slides with words.

3. Memory techniques and the power of rehearsal

Creating great Content and PowerPoint slides does not ensure that your presentation will be effective. The presentation has to be delivered to the audience in the appropriate manner. You need to control your pace, slides, and make sure you engage with your audience.

During the day you’ll:

practice out loud each section of your presentation as you design it

discover the difference between written and spoken language

learn how ‘the wait‘ gives your presentation weight

learn how to be less reliant on notes

maximise your message by managing how you deliver it.

Follow-Up

Having attended Presentation Foundations, there are a variety of options for follow-up:

Attend Presentation StageTime where we focus on delivery skills and audience and self-management techniques

Book a one-on-one Skype coaching session

Make use of our free email and phone advice service.

“I had high expectations and these were exceeded – a very valuable day which will improve professionalism of our presentations – ultimately improving the quality of decision making and improving the use the Executive Team’s time.Your facilitation was excellent and the format and pace of the course perfect – kept me interested and learning all day. The tools of the SpeakerMap™ and the workbook I will use on an ongoing basis. Your framework gives the presenter confidence in the quality and presentation of their content, which is the first step in confidently delivering a presentation.”
Anita Hawthorne, Head of Procurement Excellence, Air New Zealand